Igniting The Spark
by Trauerbrandung
Summary: First, he took her parents. Then, he took her. Finally, he took her heart. And then he died. The journey through Weyard from Jenna's point of view. JennaxSaturos   ReverseStockholmshipping ? , hints at Duskshipping.
1. Chapter I: Chains Of Loyalty

Finally, the beginning of a second story. The idea to this story floated in my mind since I finished my first story, but with ending school and stuff like that, I only found time now to write it down (well, at least the first chapter).

As in the first story, there will be mistakes, and there might be some expressions a native English speaker wouldn't use. I still hope that someone can enjoy it - I don't know if I'll finish the story when nobody's interested.

So, the story is tagged as a Jenna/Saturos pairing. Yet, the story will also contain Jenna's thoughts about Isaac and Garet (they might be dead), Felix' thoughts about Prox (and Karst, hooray for Duskshipping) and Kraden babbling nonsense. The Felix/Menardi pairing is called Stockholmshipping (according to ), so this might be ReverseStockholmshipping. Well, and I'd like to make this name part of the story, the Stockholm syndrome is an interesting psychological issue, and I hope that I can use it well.

Enough from me, here we go!

Disclaimer: I don't own Camelot, Golden Sun or anything else related to the video games industry.

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**Igniting**** The Spark**

She hated him. Since the first moment when he stood behind her, threatening Kraden and her and commanding Isaac and Garet to get the Elemental Stars, Jenna had felt the urge to burn the arrogant smile from his face. Saturos just sneered at her and exposed a feeling of superiority. Although Menardi was much rougher on her, the cold grin of the male Proxian made her blood boil.

The appearance of her brother hadn't helped at all. In fact, she had been so disappointed that Felix was now a companion of these criminals that she hadn't spoken to him the next day after they had fled from Mount Aleph. Actually, she hadn't spoken to anyone. She had lost her family (well, Felix was back, but he collaborated with her kidnappers), and now, she had lost her friends, too.

Birds were singing in the trees, crickets were chirping in the grass, and the sun stood already high in the cloudless sky, warming Angara to a pleasant temperature. Yet, the day wasn't very promising for someone. It was the second morning after their "departure", and Jenna woke up in a tent in the forest, somewhere near the town of Vault. More precisely, she was woken up by Menardi yelling to her that she wouldn't get any food if she stayed in the tent any longer. The smell of tea and of something strange filled her nostrils as she crawled out of the tent and looked around.

Jenna was the last of the group to stand up; Felix, Kraden and Saturos were already sitting around a fireplace, while Alex (Jenna wondered if he was human at all) was probably somewhere in the environment, doing whatever his business was.

"Good morning, Jenna", Kraden greeted. "Indeed very interesting, camping outside the village and exploring the miracles of the world, isn't it?"

Jenna grimaced. "No", she said grimly, "not at all."

Her brother opened his mouth to say something, but she shot him a death glare and he remained silent, a sad expression on his face.

Saturos stirred his cup of strange liquid and asked in a casual way: "You slept well?"

"My bed would've been more comfortable, thank you", Jenna snarled and sat down next to Kraden, grabbing a slice of bread from a leather bag and chewing away on it until her brother held out to her a piece of cheese and some bacon. Wordlessly, she took the cheese and continued to eat in angry silence.

Behind her, Menardi said disapprovingly: "You don't have to eat this, you know! I said that bread and water would have tamed this spoiled brat better!"

Felix jumped up and exclaimed: "Hey! She's my sister and we didn't have to take her with us!"

Very calmly, Saturos said: "But we had to. She would have tried to rescue those pesky little friends of her and she would have died trying. And now, she's a... well, kind of a reinsurance, I'd say."

Felix' eyes narrowed. "What do you mean by that? Don't you trust me?"

"Exactly", Menardi said bluntly.

Saturos sighed. "Felix. We trust you. But, you know, if – and that's a big "if" – if these two boys have survived, your loyalty to us might be strained. And if they didn't survive, then there's no one left to explain what happened and we're able to save Prox. Oh, and there's even another good reason. Jenna, if you come with us, you'll see your parents again in Prox."

Although she was previously oblivious to the argument around her, Jenna froze at Saturos' last words.

She swallowed the piece of bread she was chewing on and said slowly: "Mom and Dad... they are alive...?"

Menardi scolded Felix: "What? You didn't tell your sister? You're a lousy brother!"

The brown-haired boy made a sad face and held his hands up in defence. "I... she turned away each time I tried to talk to her. Sorry, Jen, I wanted to..."

"Anyway", Saturos interjected, "I'm sure now that we all have a common destination, this thing is settled. Now, Little Miss Trouble, have a cup of coffee and we're ready to take off... no, Menardi, I meant Jenna! I'd never call you names! Really!"

Saturos dodged Menardi's scythe and jumped behind a tree, calling for Alex to rescue him from his companion's wrath. While the female Proxian slammed her weapon continuously into the tree, a blue light flashed behind Jenna, Felix and Kraden, and suddenly, Alex stood behind them.

With a swift move, he took the iron coffeepot, poured its content into a cup and held it out to Jenna, slightly bowing to her.

"Here, Little Miss Trouble, your coffee. Seems like your tour guides are busy with their shenanigans", Alex said in a amused voice, causing Felix to put a protective hand on Jenna's shoulder.

"Stop it, Alex, you'd better help Saturos instead of hitting on my sister", Felix warned.

"Tsk! You'd better get yourself a girlfriend, slowpoke. I'm just a gentleman and you can only learn from me", Alex replied and showed a beaming smile. Jenna blushed and looked deeply into her cup of coffee. "But relax with your big-brother-complex, my heart is in Imil. Of course that doesn't mean that we can't go out somewhere if you're bored, Jenna..."

"Alright, that's enough, you scoundrel!" Felix leaped forward to grab Alex and cut him down to size, but the blue-haired man grinned one last time and vanished into thin air, so the Valean grasped at nothing and fell on the ground.

Kraden, having sat motionlessly for the whole time, helped Felix up and put a hand on his shoulder, then said in a parental voice: "Well, Felix, Alex may be a bit overbearing, but he has a point. Look, boy, it's complicated with the girls: You shouldn't be a bootlicker, but it doesn't pay out to be entirely silent, too. And I can tell that Jenna is definitely not disgusted by Alex' manners."

Jenna looked even deeper into her cup of coffee, the strong scent filling her head and sharpening her senses. Meanwhile, Felix wondered what he had done to deserve this punishment. Being lectured by a lonesome old man on how to score with girls – this damned Alex! He'd better tell nothing about Felix' life in Prox to Jenna or Kraden...

"So... whatever is coffee?" Jenna wondered aloud.

Kraden didn't let the chance of another lengthy lecture pass and approached her, his right index finger raised. "Well, this dark brown to black liquid is made by grinding coffee beans, or _Coffea Atteca_, and putting them into hot water. Coffee beans can be harvested in Atteka. They have a stimulant effect and..."

"Alright! Stop! I'm fine with it if it's not poisonous!" Jenna yelled and kept her ears shut with her hands.

Felix grinned and said to the old man: "You're still the same, Kraden."

With a puzzled face, the scholar went back to his former place, shrugged, and sipped down his cup of coffee in one gulp.

After Menardi had calmed down, the group continued their journey, following a muddy trail through the forest towards Vault. Nothing extraordinary happened, besides Alex actually travelling with them. The sun shined down on them, no cloud was visible, but it wasn't too warm to travel; in fact, it was quite perfect and if one saw the group, one could have thought that a family used the nice weather for a trekking tour. Of course, nothing could have been further away from the truth.

The thick forest around them was brimming over with the sounds of animals and other creatures, but not many were unwary enough to attack the group, somehow they could sense the Proxian's might over the fire, nature's worst enemy. A small gang of goblins got scorched by Menardi, but after that, the group wasn't attacked by anything else.

At midday, Saturos ordered them to halt at a small clearing. Jenna could feel her feet aching due to the unknown strain, and her stomach grumbled already louder than the birds' twittering, so she was definitely happy to sit down and eat something.

"Jenna, how about doing something useful for our group? You could roast these pieces of meat – it's not like you've got other important things to do, anyway..." Saturos suddenly said behind her.

"What? You take me hostage and expect me to earn this situation? May you rot in hell, you pompous slave driver! I hope you die horribly!" Jenna cried hysterically, her face red with anger.

Saturos sneered, he was visibly enjoying her flash of anger. "Now, now, there's no need to get personal!" Then, he became more serious and added: "You should remember some things. Firstly, without us, you'd be a brotherless orphan. And I bet you'd like to see your parents again. Secondly, you'd be very likely dead – deep-fried like your two little fellows in Sol Sanctum. And lastly: We could let you starve, you know. Now stop whining like a little girl and do something useful, Little Miss Trouble."

Jenna clenched her fists and gritted her teeth, concentrating on setting the silver-haired man on fire, but nothing happened.

"Nice try, but it'll take more than a little spark to harm a Proxian", he said, walking towards Menardi and Alex.

Besides her, Felix breathed a sigh of relief. "Damn it, Jenna. I thought he'd char you right here. Seems like he has a good day..."

Kraden, standing behind Felix, stepped forward and nodded. Despite his age, the scholar was probably a more persevering wayfarer than Jenna. "Felix is right, Jenna. We shouldn't forget that they could kill us anytime. I'm... I'm really sorry that I put you in this situation... and Isaac and Garet, too. They are probably dead, and it's my fault..."

Kraden sat down, burying his head in his hands, gazing into the fireplace. For the first time, Jenna didn't see the vivid, eccentric scholar with a purely optimistic way of looking at things, but an old, gaunt man who had just realized that he had the blood of two boys on his hands.

"There's... no excuse. It was my greed for knowledge that killed them..."

Felix sat down beside him, patting the scholar's back. "You couldn't know it, Kraden. Also, Isaac is a clever boy and Garet is too stubborn to die."

Jenna didn't know what to say. Her mouth was dry, Kraden's sulkiness dragged her down, too. Somehow, she thought about Saturos' instruction to roast meat, and she was glad to do something that would keep her distracted from all this. While the bright sunrays illuminated the clearing, Jenna felt like looking through a haze. She didn't notice the birds singing above her, nor Saturos, Menardi and Alex arguing about whether they should risk visiting Vault, nor the meat slowly becoming black, much to the disgust of the rest of the group.

Later that day, despite Alex' concerns, the group travelled to Vault to refresh their supplies. They had split up; Saturos and Jenna looked for food, while Menardi and Felix searched through the local armourer's arsenal. The Proxians had made clear that any attempt at flight would result in pain for both siblings. Alex and Kraden were already at the inn, and Jenna wondered what they were doing. Talking about how to flirt? She shuddered and quickly dismissed the thought while Saturos pointed at several things like bread, meat and water, which were gathered together by the old, chubby vendor, his eyes beaming at the thought of the unexpected profit.

While the man was busy, Saturos turned to Jenna and asked: "So, anything special you'd like to have here, Little Miss Trouble? Sweets, spirit, snails?"

"You wouldn't buy it anyway, would you?" Jenna grumbled.

"No, but I could tease you while consuming it in front of you... of course I will buy it. We can afford a little more than necessary, if it's not completely fancy. Just don't tell Menardi, she'd rip off my head. And don't get too used to it; we won't be visiting villages very often."

The auburn-haired girl was amazed. She hadn't expected Saturos to even think of her needs – much less of her wishes. Well, or maybe he was just buying her contentment.

"Um... I'd like... a jar of honey?"

"I think that's no problem, take two if you want, so it'll last longer. But don't expect me to steal it from wild bees if you run out of it – Alex could do that, maybe some stings would shrink his ego. And now carry our purchases, this is no pleasure trip. Come on, come on, my grandmother would be faster!"

Jenna panted heavily while she carried the supplies to the inn. At least she was sure again that she didn't like him.

Luckily, the inn wasn't far away, so she managed to stumble into the room she shared with Menardi and laid down all of their supplies without dropping any of them. Exhausted, she fell onto her bed, stretching her legs and thinking of Vale and Garet's and Isaac's fate.

Unfortunately, her thoughts were interrupted by a booming female voice. Menardi was back.

"You lazy whelp, you're already tired? If you want to eat something at least fairly enjoyable – unlike the burnt meat you made – I'd recommend you to follow me to the tavern downstairs."

Jenna bit back a harsh answer and thought that at least, she had to spend less time with Menardi alone.

With the exception of Alex, the whole group sat at a large table in the tavern, eagerly waiting for dinner. Despite Vault being a small village, they were not alone in the room, a rich merchant and his following were eating here, too.

After a hastily devoured meal, meat and noodles with some vegetables, the group slowly dissolved. Kraden was the first to leave the table, he was still in a bad mood and nearly dozed off while halfheartedly gnawing on his meat.

Shortly afterwards, Menardi left, too, declaring that she needed her beauty sleep. Nobody dared to comment this, although Jenna opened her mouth to say something, but Felix kicked her on the shin to prevent her from suicide.

After the Proxian woman had left, Saturos said dryly: "I know it's hard to withstand the urge to say something. But the self-preservative drive is stronger."

Suddenly, it bubbled out of Jenna: "Where exactly are our parents? What have you done to them? Why can't we see them?"

Felix gesticulated to her to stop asking, but Saturos put him off with a wave of his hand. "They're safe. You'll see them when we return to Prox. Just behave, like Felix."

"But... why are you doing this? Why do you need Felix and why do you want to destroy Weyard?" Jenna asked, feeling lost.

"Let's just say that I don't want my hometown to fall into the growing abyss beyond Weyard. You'll see the rest", Saturos said calmly. He drained his glass of wine and leaned back. "Felix, maybe you should explain your motives to her. Little Miss Trouble isn't actually necessary for our journey, but I can't let her go home, either. Now, let's go to bed. Tomorrow will be a hard day."

Before entering the room he shared with Saturos, Felix said to Jenna: "I'll explain everything to you tomorrow. Now let's get some sleep... Little Miss Trouble."

Jenna grimaced and tried to hit him, but Felix laughed, slipped into his room and closed the door behind him. Slowly, the auburn-haired girl headed to her room, once again wondering what she had blundered into.

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It's somehow very short, but I wanted it to end after one day... Tell me your opinion, how can I do better, what should I do next time? Anything besides flaming is highly appreciated.

I don't know when I'll add chapter two, I'm travelling myself for the next two weeks (in Spain, not in Weyard, unfortunately ;). But it WILL appear one day!


	2. Chapter II: Into Coldness And The Void

Author's notes: Woah, it took me like forever to write just another chapter - and I have to admit that it was mostly my laziness that prevented me from writing more. However, the next chapter to this story, and I decided to be more of an omniscient narrator, sometimes looking into Felix' and the rest of the groups heads, too. I also decided that I want to flesh out Kraden, Menardi and Alex, I don't like them to be two-dimensional and black/white. Enough said, here's the new chapter, thank you for reading and if you like it and want me to write the next chapter faster, review! ...please.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything Golden Sun-related.

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**Chapter II -**** Into Coldness And The Void**

Clinging tightly onto her pillow, Jenna desperately tried to sleep, to forget all she was going through. Yet, the merciful oblivion was denied to her, while she found her thoughts whirling around more vividly than ever - Garet, Isaac, her parents, Felix, Kraden, the Proxians, Alex, Vale, herself - Jenna forced her eyes shut, hoping to forget her situation for just a moment, but the images were just brighter inside her mind, dancing around like marionettes.

She opened her eyes again and sat up in her bed, leaning with her back against the cold, wooden wall of the room. Pulling her knees to her chest, she pondered on her situation and sighed. What had she done to deserve this? Why her? Felix had promised to answer her some questions... but would this change her situation?

A tear slowly ran down her cheek, dropping on the white blanket of the bed. She wiped over her face and gritted her teeth. It was just not fair. Why would these damned Proxians kidnap her and her whole family? She looked over to the sleeping form of Menardi, only two metres away from her - how easy would it be to just stab her while she was asleep? Jenna rose from her bed, silently walking through the darkness to the Proxian. A dagger, pushed into her heart? She clenched her fists. Choking her in her sleep? Not even Menardi's psynergy would help her...

Jenna froze and fell back on her bed. She was aghast at her own thoughts. Would she really strangle a defenceless woman? Could she really kill a person?

She looked at the silhouettes of her hands, biting her lip. No, she couldn't do this. She would be no better than the Proxians. But what _could_ she possibly do? She lied down and curled up in a foetal position, staring into the nothingness of the black room. She tried to fight her tears, but eventually, she gave up and cried into her pillow all the bitterness and desperation. Jenna sobbed uncontrollably and didn't care whether Menardi would hear her. It felt good in a strange way, and finally, she fell asleep, pressing the wet pillow to her body.

* * *

The sun was already shining down for some hours until Jenna was woken up by the shrill voice of her roommate threatening to set her on fire if she didn't stand up in ten seconds.

Grumbling, Jenna rose from her bed - she wouldn't easily subdue to that beast of a woman. In fact, she felt at least a bit better than yesterday. If Menardi had found her sleeping position strange, she at least didn't say anything; the same went for her red eyes.

After she got dressed, Jenna followed Menardi to a small bathroom, she was relieved at the sight of feeling fresh again. She almost ran to the little jug with water and scooped some of it in her face. It was ice cold and took her breath, but at the same time, it felt like a complete cleansing, both physical and mental.

Menardi grimaced and said contemptuously: "Don't get too accustomed to it, if I had my way, rain would be enough for you, whelp. Now hurry up, we've got to go."

Down in the tavern, the others were already sitting at a table, except for Alex, silently eating their breakfast. The rich merchant and his following were there again, but they were busy eating and didn't take notice of the motley crew the Proxians had gathered. Felix looked up as Jenna entered, but he remained silent. After they had finished their simple meal, Saturos said in a low voice: "Alright, today, we'll head towards Goma Range. It should take about three days, maybe two days, if we're fast." He stopped to look towards Jenna and Kraden, then continued: "Alex will join us during the day, whatever he's doing now. Let's go, the faster the lighthouses are lit, the faster you'll see your parents."

The journey led them to the east, unknown territory for Felix and Jenna, while Kraden seemed inappropriately happy to travel such a distance for the first time in his life. Every once in a while, he would point at trees, hills, road signs or eye-catching rocks, telling stories about these locations he had read about in his books while being stuck in Tolbi. Jenna wondered how on Weyard he was able to remember all these things, but at least it made the day less boring, as Kraden would always jump and babble uncontrollably when he saw something he recognised.

Yet, the voyage became more dangerous, as different strange monsters attacked the group during the day, all bigger and more malicious than Jenna had ever seen any creature. Although Saturos and Menardi had no problems in fighting them off, the Valean girl was sure that she wouldn't want to stay alone here. Felix always tried to cheer her up, but his false smile was so weak that it did more to demoralise her further.

At lunchtime, they made it to a bridge across a small river, settling down on the other side to fill their empty stomachs. While she hungrily shovelled her ration of bread and meat into her mouth, Jenna noticed Felix talking to Saturos with a stern expression on his face. The Proxian nodded and Felix walked over towards her.

"Sis, I promised to explain everything I know to you, and I'll do it now. Saturos said it's okay that we leave the group shortly, although Kraden has to stay here. Please, come with me."

Jenna solely nodded and followed her brother, very interested in what this was all about. When they were out of earshot, Felix sat down and started to talk, bitterness and discord in his voice: "So, Jenna, there's more behind this thing, you know."

Jenna sighed and grimaced. As if she hadn't expected this.

Accepting that she wasn't about to respond, Felix went on: "You see, the lighthouses are the beacons of the elemental powers. While they're unlit, the elemental powers are weak. Well, Prox is a village in the icy northern desert, very near to the Mars lighthouse. Because the lighthouse isn't lit, it gets colder every day. But the worst thing is the degradation of the earth itself. I was there and I saw it slowly breaking away into nothingness. If we don't light the lighthouses, Prox will fade into coldness and the void. And with it our parents. And Ka... err... well, yeah, they'll all die - and we can't let this happen!"

During his last sentence, his fists had clenched and his expression had become fierce. Jenna wondered what he had said before, but dismissed this thought as unimportant for now, instead, she asked: "So... you're saying that they just want to save the world and the Wise One is a liar? They kidnapped us and all, but they are the heroes?"

Jenna's face grew red from the anger flaring up in her, continuing with barely suppressed fury: "If they wanted to save the world, then why did they behave like this? Why were they the only ones believing in this? And why did they take you along with them?"

Felix sighed. He took his sisters' hands and said calmly: "Jenna, please, I'll explain it to you. To begin with, they actually saved our parents, Isaac's father, and me out of the river after the boulder incident..."

"... which was caused by them!" Jenna interrupted angrily.

"Well, yeah, but they were desperate. As I said, Prox will vanish if the lighthouses won't be lit. Also, we weren't treated like slaves there. Our parents live freely inside Prox and I was trained in the control of my psynergy. It was a hard training, but I'm still alive - and if we light the lighthouses, we'll return to Prox to our parents and... uh, well, to our parents and head back to Vale", Felix concluded, biting on his lip, probably for his slip of tongue.

Jenna's eyes narrowed. She leaned closer to her brother, a sneering grin on her face. Grabbing his right shoulder, the auburn-haired girl said disdainfully: "You're not doing this because you want to save the world, do you? You might do this for our parents, but there's something - or someone - else behind your motivation, big brother. And I don't want to die because of you playing the white knight, just for your information."

Her brother's resigning expression showed her clearly that she was right. Slowly, he said: "Okay... I guess I'm not that good at hiding... things. I'll explain it to you later or tomorrow, we should go on now. And you should probably bring a good deal of appreciation with you..."

Jenna raised her eyebrows. As if it wasn't obvious to her that he had fallen in love with a Proxian girl. She shrugged and walked back to the Proxians, Kraden and Alex, who had apparently deemed it proper to show up again.

When the two Valeans returned to the group, Menardi couldn't go without a "About time you came back.", making the rest of the group roll their eyes.

Although Felix' answers raised a whole bunch of new questions, Jenna had at least something to think about and the possibility that the Proxians might be somehow human - well, or "metahuman" - something she hadn't dared to hope for, especially in Menardi's case. However, she still felt abducted and captured, a mere hostage to secure the Proxian's plans. Felix felt so far away, Alex was just obscure, and Kraden was more of a scrawny old man on his last trip than a wise mentor to Jenna.

With this in her mind, the group travelled on the muddy path along a river that streamed into the Great Eastern Sea, many miles to the south. Jenna had only seen paintings of the ocean and had heard tales of its vast, indescribable size. Despite her fire-aligned nature, she had always had a liking for the sea, although she wasn't as extroverted with this as Garet. Now, she was imagining that she could follow the river to the south, flowing freely in the embrace of the endless blue, far away from her sorrows and the overbearing situation she was in. She closed her eyes and licked her lips, tasting the fresh, salty water, feeling the cool breeze on her skin, telling of freedom and peace...

A sudden impact with a stone interrupted her wishful thoughts, sending her from her already aberrant path flying through the air, into the rapid stream along the road. The foaming water was way too strong for her to resist, and she yelped and screamed in fear of being drowned in the murky depths by this raging current.

Felix reacted first, shouting and running towards her, summoning an earthen barrier in the water, but Jenna only bumped against it, and while the air was pressed out of her lungs, the stream carried her further off, around the barrier and down the river. Yet, it had slowed her down enough for the rest of the group to catch up with the siblings - not that all of them would be a help to her. Kraden babbled about hundreds of brilliant saving methods, none of them of any use at the moment without hours of preparation, and Menardi seemed only too willing to let Jenna find a watery grave.

This left Felix, Saturos and Alex to do the work. The latter used his psynergy to teleport to Jenna's position, grabbing her hand and pulling her towards the saving riverside, but the girl's desperate struggling instead forced him into the water, too, with only his right hand clinging onto a root that slowly slipped from his grip, with Felix catching his hand just in time to prevent Alex and Jenna from leaving the riverbanks for good. The raging torrent however was too much for him to hold on for long, but Alex managed to swing Jenna towards the riverside, where Saturos had arrived to pull her out of the water, calming her down and serving as a big pillow for Jenna to wail her shock into. His face was an awkward grimace while he patted the crying girl on the back.

Without the additional ballast, Alex just teleported himself into safety, giving Felix the possibility to crawl back on solid ground. Both of them breathed heavily, yet they were relieved that all danger was past.

"And here I thought that we'd stay on safe ground until Karagol Sea", Alex commented.

"Dry humour", Saturos grinned, "or is your statement dripping with sarcasm?"

Felix sighed and bit back a comment about both of them being bedwetters, while Kraden, his head a crimson head, arrived, with Menardi behind him, not a gleam of relief on her face, just utter disgust for Jenna's embrace of Saturos, Jenna in general, Alex for being such a boaster, Felix for befriending her sister, and Kraden because he slowed down the journey.

Despite exhaling air like Jupiter himself, Kraden still managed to praise the three men to the skies for their braveness, hugging all of them for their efforts, embracing Jenna to ensure her that she was safe, and hugging Menardi just because she seemed lost, changing her facial expression to a baffled smile, until she managed to make a sour expression again.

With Alex and Jenna completely soaked, and Saturos dripping like the wet pillow he was forced to play, the Proxian decided that it would be the best to stay there and lightened a campfire to dry their clothes.

While the fire was crackling, the group sat in a small circle around it, enjoying the warmth and the light that helped forgetting the hectic of the rescue operation. Jenna sat shivering between Felix and Saturos, breathing shallow. She leaned against her brother, her head almost burning hot, while her eyes were closed. Felix had used his psynergy to heal her, but hadn't it been for Alex' Mercury psynergy, she would have suffered from a severe fever.

At the moment, it was mostly the exhaustion that drained her energy, but at least she was safe, Felix thought. Another thought crossing his mind was the quick help Alex and Saturos had provided - secretly, he had expected them to act just as passive as Menardi had, but this had shown him the possibility that maybe, just maybe, they weren't completely merciless.

It didn't occur to him that they possibly hadn't even thought about the moral aspect but just about keeping the Earth adept of the group in line, nor did he want to think pessimistically now, as he had done so often during the last three years. After a brief time, he shut his eyes and his thoughts wandered to the far north, to a frozen village, to a separated family, and to a warm face that had raised his gloomy spirits ever so often.

Meanwhile, Jenna's dreams revolved around the person that had pulled her out of the water, saving her from drowning in the cold abyss. In her head, the brown- and blue-haired men were just little helpers to him, while he had ultimately rescued her from mortal peril, absorbing all of her fears into him.

As the last glimmer of light faded into the night, the whole group lent themselves to their illusions while only Kraden and Menardi were awake, their whisperings inaudible through the howling wind.

"So, why did you do this to me, old man? Why did you embrace me like a little child?" an obviously churned up Menardi hissed.

Kraden softly put his right palm on her shoulder and said: "Don't get me wrong, Madam, but to me, you're ALL little children. And as the quirky old uncle, it's my duty to cheer you up. Although one day, you have to tell me why you won't play with the other kids. You know, they don't dislike you, and if they accept that you're doing this to save your village, they might help you. I'd like to help you, but only if you want me to."

For a very short time, Menardi looked like she would cry, but then she overcame her emotions and roughly shoved Kraden's hand off her shoulder.

"I am NOT a little child, and you better accept that we could kill you anytime", the Proxian snarled, turning around and walking away into the darkness.

Kraden sighed, heading towards the sleeping tent and said to himself: "Typical act of defiance, the "misunderstood girl"-pattern. By tomorrow, I'll have broken the ice."

His brown cape drifted in the wind, not unlike a giant fallen leaf, as he opened the tent and mused about the best psychological approach.

* * *

**End Chapter II**

Yeah, the chapters could be longer, but if it took me so long to write this in English, how will it end with even more content? Also, one chapter: one day.

Don't forget to review if you like it!


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